Credit-account apparatus.



4J. T. BROOKE. UREDIT AcooUNT APPARATUS. APPLIOA'IIOI FILED 123.10,1909.

UNTTED sTATiis PATENT onirica.

JOHN T. BROOKE, or SEATTLE, WASHINGTON.

CREDIT-AGCUNT APPARATS. v

l Specification of Letters Patent.l Patented 0015-, 11, 1910.

Applation filed April 10, 1909.` Serial No. 489,170.

To all lwhom it may concern: I

Be itknown that I, JOHN T. BROOKE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Seattle, in the county of King and State of Washington, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Credit-AccountApparatus, of which the following is a specification, reference beinghad therein to the accompanying drawing.

This invention relates to the subject of credit systems, andliaspart-icularly in view a filing cabinet therefor which is made inbook form, the leaves of which may be readily removed or added to, andeach leaf being provided with a plurality of sales slip holders whichreadily permit the slips to be removed, yet at the same time assure ofthe same being held in a conspicuous manner so that they may beinspected.

The invention is primarily designed .for use in connection with creditsystems where duplicate or triplicate sales slips are employed, one ormore to be kept within a portable filing cabinet, one to be retained bya customer, and, if three 'slips are used, the third to be kept bythe'store and filed away in a ledger.

It will be understood, of course, that in the practical application ofthe invention to the system, the same is susceptible of changes indetails and structural arrangements, but one preferred and practical,example thereof is shown -in the accompanying drawings, wherein'-Figure 1 is a perspective view of the improved filin-g cabinet, thecover leaves thereof being opened. Fig. 2 is a detail side elevation ofthe hinge connection between the leaves of the cabinet. Fig. 3 is a viewsimilar to Fig. 2, showing the binding or locking engagement between thehinge connection of the cover and the hinge connection of the leaves.

Referring to the accompanying drawings by numerals, 1 and 2 designate,respectively, the covers of the filing cabinet, which is of a book formso that the saine may be portable. Tlie cover 1 on its inner face isprovided with four corner pockets 3 which receive the corners of anindex sheet 4 and preferably also the corresponding corners of atransparent protecting sheet 5 for the V alphabetical andnumerical'index sheet 4. The other cover 2 has a pad or ltablet 6secured thereon, each sheet of which' may be provided with the necessaryhorizontal and vertical Alines for the keeping of accounts.' The pad ortablet is so arranged that its sheets may be readily torn off whendesired' or necessary.

The leaves 7 are of duplicate cdjnstruction and arrangement, and they,as well as the covers may be formed of pasteboard, fiber, or metal. Theleaves are provided at their longitudinal edges with protecting strips 8which project on each side of the leaf, and are also provided with acentral partition strip 9 which is arranged similar'to the side strips,so that each leaf has both sides divided into two longitudinalcompartments. As is shown more clearly in Fig. 1, when the leaves areclosed, the side strips of each leaf rest upon the side strips of theleaf below, and the central partition strip rests upon the centralpartition strip below, which arrangement assures of ample space beingleft between the compartments of each leaf. The strips 8 may be indexedcorrespondingly with the cover index. y

The covers at the inner ends of their longitudinal edges are providedwith hinge straps '10, the end of each of which is in pivotalengagementwith one endof a hinge link 11, said hinge link having itsother end provided with an inclined transversely" arranged slot -12 fordetachable engagement' with a pivot stud 13 carried by a strap or plate14 fastened to the longitudinal edge of the side member of each outerleaf'. This plate or strap 14 is located preferablyat one edge of thesaid member or strip, and a duhinge link 17. This manner of hingedlyconnecting the seveial leaves together, and the outer leaves thereof tothe cover is oon- -tinued,-the arrangement being such that each sidestrip of the leaves has a hinge link connection with the leaf above andthe leaf below, and the covers each have a detachable hinge connectionwith the outer leaves. The hinge straps and the hinge links are allprovided with rounded ends and are held yin binding contact with oneanother when vi1 o As' has been'stated before, the leaves are dividedinto longitudinal compartments on each'side, by means of the side stripsand the central strip, and to utilize these compartments, a plurality ofholding clips are employed for retaining sales slips or the like inpositionri'n the compartment so that they may be readily inspected. Theholding clips are of duplicate construction, each being formed of asingle length of resilient material,`such as wire, bent to'form sidearms 18 and a horizontally connecting front member 19 provided with anintermediate finger grip 20 formed by upwardly, or outwardly bowing thematerial. The rear ends of the side arms are coiled to form a spiralspring 21, the tension of which -is constantly exerted .to retain thefront connecting member 19 in contact with the bottom of thecompartment. These sprin project outwardly from their arms, an theirouter convolution is passed through the leaf, or bottom of thecompartment and into the compartment on the opposite side of the leafand stapled or otherwise securely fastened therein, as indicated at 22.

The edges of the` side strips opposite to the holding clips in eachcompartment may be supplied with an initial, letter, number, l30v orother distinguishing mark in order to readily identify the slips held bythe clips.

It will be seen from the foregoing that by means of the hinge connectionbetween the covers and the leaves, the covers may be readily detached topermit additional leaves ,to be added to the cabinet, and by thedescribed compartment arrangement of the Y leaves a large number of sl1s may be recabinet com rising prising covers, a plurality of leaves eachhaving an independent hinge connection with an adjacent leaf, and adetachable hinge connection between each cover and each outermost leaf.

3. A portable filing cabinet, comprising covers each provided with hingemembers one end of each of which is provided with a s lot, a lurality ofleaves 'each having an indepen ent hinge connection with an adja` c entleaf, and pivot lugs carried by the outermost leaves for detachableengagement with the slotted end of the hinge membersof the covers. j

4. A portable filing cabinet, comprising covers `each provided withhinge members the free ends of which are rounded and have transverseslots formed therein, a plurality of leaves, a rounded end linkconnection between each leaf and an adjacent leaf, and

pivot studs carried by each outermost leaffor detachable engagement withthe slotted ends of the hinge members of the covers, the links Aof theleaves being adapted to have 'binding engagement with each other andVwith the hinge members of the coversA when the cabinet is in a closedposition.

A tiling cabinet comprising a plurality of leaves, hinge members carriedby each leaf, a link connection between the hinge members of one leafand the adjoining lea*e vcovers for said leaves, and a detachable hingeconnection between said covers and the hinge members of the outermostleaves.

6. A filing cabinet comprising a pluralit of leaves, hinge memberscarried by 'each leaf, link connections between the hinge members of oneleaf and the adjacent leaf, said links having a binding engagement whenthe leaves are closed, covers for said leaves, and a detachable hingeconnection between said covers and the outermost leaves. In testimonywhereof I hereunto alix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN T. BROOKE.

Witnesses G. lV. SEELEY, J. FRED IVRIGHT.

